GROUP12 IM23B

Hanu Dutt Sharma 1602077

Harish Kesarapu 1602080
Kasarla Chandrakanth 1602094
Khandelwal Rahul 1602095
Nellikunja Sooraj 1602117

BAMBOO SUPPLY CHAIN

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

 Introduction

Being one of Indias most valuable resources and given the vast diversity in its applicability and the
enormous scope for improvement of rural and tribal livelihoods3 and for the environment, Bamboo is
among the most important resources to be leveraged towards the alleviation of rural poverty,
empowerment of women and environmental rejuvenation. Marsh and Smith (2007) claim that the
presence of near-source value addition in modern value chains implies that the industrial component
of the Bamboo sector has an excellent potential in terms of its pro-poor impact in poverty alleviation.
The industrialisation of the Bamboo sector is, thus, an essential task for Bamboo to have any true effect
on the lives of the millions who depend upon it.

This paper initially provides an assessment of the potential of the Bamboo industry (defined herein as
the set of all enterprises engaged in value addition to Bamboo poles) on the basis of extensive
secondary research. It then attempts to describe the structure of the value Chain for Bamboo products
made of domestically sourced and imported Bamboo, and discusses the challenges within the value
chain. The Paper concludes with proposing a framework for developing an industrialised Bamboo
sector in India, drawing upon lessons from China, a success story in the Bamboo industry, as well as
from other literature on policies adopted abroad.
 Bamboo Industry

Definition of the Bamboo Industry

For this paper, an industry is defined as the aggregate of manufacturing or technically productive
enterprises working in a specific field6. The Bamboo industry, for the purpose of this study, is
defined as the set of all firms engaged in the addition of value to Bamboo through production of
High value Products. Thus, the scope of the industry in terms of Product diversity can be classified
into the following sub-sectors:

1. Handicrafts: Characterized by manual processing and high value addition to limited

quantities of Bamboo
2. Bamboo Shoots: High value Agricultural food crops that can be grown in parallel with the
production of Culms
3. Bamboo utilized in Construction purposes, including Bamboo utilised for traditional
construction, Bahareque construction and in newer prefabricated housing.
4. Industrial Production: This involves the mechanised and semi mechanised processing of
larger volumes of culms, which offers among the largest opportunities for major growth and
pro-poor impacts on rural farming communities. This sub-sector may be further subdivided
into the following classes:

1) Premium Processing, which includes industries involving high value products and requiring
facilities for primary and secondary processing as well as higher levels of finishing. Includes
Bamboo flooring, laminated furniture etc.

2) Medium value processing, which requires less capital intensive processing than above.
Includes chopsticks, mat boards, etc.

3) Low value processing, for products involving greatly limited value addition to Bamboo
culms, including Charcoal and Paper and pulp industries

4) Unprocessed Culms, utilised in traditional applications such as Scaffolding and Traditional

construction

For the purposes of the current study, 3 and 4 under Industrial Production are excluded from the
definition of the Bamboo industry, due to the low scope for value addition to Bamboo. This includes
the utilisation of Bamboo for Paper and pulp, Charcoal and Bamboo Scaffolding, despite these being
extensive consumers of Bamboo in India (20% and 24% of Bamboo harvested are allocated
respectively to the paper and pulp industries, and scaffolding, according to the National Bamboo
Mission (NBM))
 Bamboo: Supply Side

Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family and are among some of the fastest-growing
plants in the world due to a unique rhizome-dependent system (Farrelly, 1984). It is ecologically very
important plant, as it checks soil erosion and reclaims degraded lands (The Bamboo Solution, 1996).

Bamboo has been an integral part of life and culture of rural India in its multifarious usage with India
being second highest bamboo producing country in the world - next only to China (Handbook on
Bamboo, 2009). In India, bamboo is concentrated in the North-East region and Central regions of
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. However, the area in North East is 28 percent of total area under
bamboo and for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh it is also high at 20 percent, only 12 percent of the
total growing stock is found in these two states while 66 percent of the growing stock is found in the
North-East Region. This difference in productivity is an opportunity for a scope for improvement
(National Bamboo Mission).

Figure 2. Major Region/States by Area under Bamboo. Retrieved from http://nbm.nic.in/grow_bamboo.html

Different parts of the bamboo have different uses and are obtained at different stages of its growth thus
rendering the plant useful during its entire life span.
Figure 3. Resource Utilization of bamboo. Reprinted from Handbook of Bamboo, National Bamboo Mission,
Under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Indian horticulturalists and scientists have ample scientific evidence proving that growing and
harvesting of Bambusa Bambos (a.k.a. Katanga, a native Indian species) and Dendrocalamus Strictus
sequester the most carbon as compared to any other tree or grass in India, considering its rapid growth
as a plant species. One caveat, though, it must be harvested for its true carbon sequestering potential
to be unleashed (Sukh, 2015). Bamboo is one such possible way of fulfilling Indias commitment to
reduce the countrys emissions intensity through extra forest and tree cover (Aggarwal, 2015).

Various actions have been taken to promote the business of bamboo across the country but the impact
has not been realized to its fullest. The government of India through setting up National Bamboo
Mission under the guidance of Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 2005 has reiterated its focus to
using bamboo as an instrument of poverty alleviation and employment generation, particularly in rural
India.
 Bamboo: Demand Side

Domestic Demand
The Planning Commissions 2003 report which detailed the creation of the National Mission on
Bamboo Technology and Trade Development focuses on harnessing the potential of Bamboo as a crop
in a multi-disciplinary fashion (NBM Operational Guidelines, 2003). The Report lays out a roadmap
for the future of the Bamboo plants development, providing one of the few existing comprehensive
analyses of the potential growth of the Bamboo sector domestically. Some salient features of this report
include the following:

1. The identification of certain major product lines in Bamboo products and the estimation of their
future growth until 2015 based on optimistic scenarios.

2. The estimation of a Market Size of approximately Rs 20.43 billion.

3. The estimation of a CAGR of 15-20% for the overall Bamboo industry.

4. The estimation of the potential size of the industry by 2015 at Rs 260 billion17.
Global Demand
The Global Bamboo product market is classified into two major sectors20:

1. Traditional Markets, wherein Demand remains strong. This sector includes handicrafts, Bamboo
shoots and Chopsticks, wherein margins remain profitable despite slowing growth. On the other hand,
certain product lines (e.g. chopsticks) are commoditised and present low growth and low margin
opportunities.21 (Smith et al, 2006a)

2. Emerging products present the most positive outlook for the industry given the enormous growth
potential for such product lines, given their recent emergence on the product scene22. These include
high value timber replacement products, Bamboo flooring and prefabricated construction. The
potential for higher value addition, the existence of higher margins and enhanced profitability and the
possibility of transcending bamboos image as a low-quality input. (Van Der Lugt and Lobovikov,
2008.)

The estimated size of the Global Market in just ten major product lines of Bamboo23 was USD 7
billion per annum in 2006, with the potential to grow to USD 17 billion by 2016 under favourable
Market Conditions. (Smith et al, 2006b)

Studies of the international Markets for Bamboo products (Van Der Lugt and Lobovikov, 2008;
CORPEI, 2005 (quoted in ibid)) identify the following major trends:

1. Bamboo flooring enjoys a strong demand in the European Union due to high levels of affluence and
environmental consciousness, and in the US as well. 24 This demand is expected to grow due to
demand by premier retail chains such as IKEA and the DIY sector.

2. Bamboo Boards, panels and similar products enjoy a strong demand within the west. Bamboo veneer
is likely to enjoy the highest growth, demand for which is expected to grow by several million square
metres annually (ibid).

3. The implementation of stricter standards for wood regulation and the growing preference for wood
certification because of NGOs, governments and public organizations lobbying for environmental
controls has led to enormous shortages in timber supply, with demand for round hardwood exceeding
supply by as much as 10 million m3 in 2005 (FSC, 2005). This gap has led to rising Timber prices,
which thus presents an opportunity for Bamboo products, widely seen as eco-friendlier due to the quick
regeneration of Bamboo as compared to timber.
 The Bamboo Industry: Processing and Value Chains

The Bamboo Processing Chain

True benefits accrue to manufacturers of industrial products out of Bamboo only when the appropriate
techniques of processing are utilised in the Production process, for it is this processing which adds
longevity, preservation and extra strength, as well as finishing necessary for a high-value product (A
U Khan, personal communication; Sunil Joshi, personal communication). Being a large plant with an
immense diversity of uses, and a plant whose every part may be utilised productively, the Bamboo
Processing Chain is a complicated procedure involving multiple stages.

Studies on mapping the chain and studying methods of further optimising and enhancing the efficacy
of Processing have been conducted, both for the general Bamboo product (Belcher, 1995) and for
individual industries (Janssen, 2000). A Detailed description of the Processing Chain for Bamboo
products is available in Gnanaharan and Mosteiro, 1997, from which the following discussion of the
Processing Chain is adapted.

The Bamboo Processing Chain follows the following major processes:

1. Cultivation: There exists significant literature on the exact processes and methods to be adopted in
cultivation of Bamboo on a commercial plantation scale (NBM, 2005; Ahlawat et al , 2002; Kigomo,
2007)

2. Harvesting: Procedures for harvesting Bamboo in India include the restrictions on cutting culms
less than 3 years old, prohibition of cutting culms in their flowering year prior to seed shedding,
prohibition of digging rhizomes, etc. Felling may be achieved using simple sharp edged blades and
machetes.

3. De-limbing: This involves the removal of branches from the main culm, and can be achieved using
a knife.

4. Primary Preparation: Involves the following activities:

a. Cross cutting of the Culm to desired lengths. In India, the use of knives for primary processing leads
to lack of uniformity in results, leading to wastage and uneven cut ends.

b. Removal of excess material at joints, using curved blades as opposed to Indian methods of using
heavy knives
5. Secondary Preparation: Involve the extraction of starch from the culm, to reduce attacks by fungi
and insects, and removal of gummy substances, to provide a uniform colour to the culm. Achieved
using Chemical Means.

6. Primary Processing: Involves splitting of the Culm to form strips, splits and slivers, and also the
straightening, bending of the Culm. While splitting the culm into strips, several types of knives
(straight edged, radial or cross shaped) may be utilised. In straightening and bending of the culm, heat
is applied to bend the culm and mechanical implements are utilised in straightening further.

7. Secondary Processing: Involves chemical treatment of the Culm, through:

a. Bleaching, to remove all blemishes and colourations due to oils, gums or resins.

b. Dyeing, to provide a product or processed bamboo with colour. Usually achieved using local
vegetable dyes or through standard chemical dyeing.

c. Carbonization, involving introduction of the bamboo into a furnace at 150 C for 20-30 minutes to
produce a uniform brown colour.

d. Acid Colouring, involving treatment of the Bamboo with brushed HCl and then heating in an oven
to obtain a brown colour.

8. Manufacturing: Methods of manufacturing vary considerably across the product line being studied
and across regions. The extent of value addition varies greatly across the range of final products and
across regions, due to variations in productive capacity, efficiency and product quality.

9. Finishing: Bamboo products often require final finishing to grant them their renowned soft texture
and feel; this is usually achieved through:

a. Smoking, by placing the finished product in an oven to achieve a uniform dark brown texture

b. Lacquering, to ensure durability and resistance to attack by moisture, etc.

c. Painting and application of Varnish

The Bamboo Value Chain in India

The Generalised Indian Value Chain

There exists considerable variation in the length and size of the value Chain for Indian Bamboo based
product industries, occurring primarily due to the different structure of the processing chain for
different products. The generalised Indian value chain is as shown below.
The value chain usually follows the following structure:

1. At the initial stage is the Cultivator, who is responsible for growing bamboo or procuring it directly
from the forests. This sector is dominated by tribals who either cut Bamboo grown in forests in
contravention of existing legislation, or by small farmers who grow bamboo plants alongside their
regular crops (Dilli Haat traders, personal communication; A U Khan, personal communication) The
extent of commercial forestry in India is low, with few interested in cultivation of Bamboo on an
industrial scale owing to regulatory hurdles; nonetheless, recent success stories in this area do exist.

2. The Cultivator provides the Bamboo produced to Aggregator Middlemen, who are responsible for the
collection of Bamboo and sorting of this Bamboo depending on its grade in terms of quality. In some cases,
very basic levels of processing are performed at this stage too. The cultivator provides only between 10-12
culms to the middlemen, who in turn aggregate this up to the level of several hundred culms (A U Khan,
personal communication; Sunil Joshi, personal communication). This level may be characterised by the
existence of informal contracts, which are enforced through fear of retribution. (Rao et al , 2009; Dilli Haat
Traders, Personal communication)

3. The Aggregator Middlemen provide Bamboo to traders, who are involved in transportation of
Bamboo to bazaars in large urban centres, where manufacturers are willing to purchase them. These
traders possess personal contacts with manufacturers. (Sunil Joshi, personal communication; Mr.
Kannappan30, personal communication)
4. Manufacturers purchase the Bamboo at up to 400% of the price received by the cultivator (Khan et al, 2007).
The bamboo they receive is, in general, poorly sorted, unprocessed and variable in quality.

5. Retail in Bamboo products is minimal and largely administered through Government owned product
promotion showrooms, such as PURBASHA in the case of Tripura. In many cases, manufacturers are
required to directly contact buyers (Anonymous source, Native Konbac, personal communication); in
other cases, they own their own retail outlets.

Example of the value Chain: Agarbattis, Tripura

The Chart at right describes the value chain in the production of agarbattis in Tripura, among the best
documented production processes and value chains in the industry. The features of this value chain
which stand out include:
1. The low percentage of final benefit accruing to bamboo producers. Rao et al, 2009 notes that the
cost of the Bamboo stick is only about 1% of that of the finished agarbatti.31 The Centre for Science
and Environment, quoted in the same report, claims that the tribal receives only about Rs 0.5 per
Bamboo pole, which sells for Rs 5. 00 in the Agartala Market (the prices have risen since to Rs 8-10
per pole owing to shortages caused by gregarious flowering.) (ibid)

2. The majority of the supply chain in Tripura adds very little value to the product; rather, it is

merely a case of multiple middlemen involved in transportation.32 The product produced at the site of
bamboo cultivation is limited only to the Bamboo stick
which contributes to a maximum of 10% of the final value of the Incense Stick (ibid). The potential
for value addition due to addition of incense mixtures, jigat etc. which is captured by Manufacturers
and Distributors pushes the prices of agarbattis to almost 4-5 times the cost of production. The
manufacturers and distributors concentrate their production activities in the Bangalore-Mysore region;
thus, the majority of value addition fails to reach the Bamboo cultivator, who is most dependent on it
for a livelihood.

The Import value Chain

Extensive quantities of Bamboo products and raw and semi-processed bamboo poles are imported into
India very year, although data on the exact volume is scant. Bamboo was, until recently, classified
along with Wood products in Global Trade statistics.35 Even within India, Bamboo products are
grouped into categories based on their final usage (furniture, food items, etc.) or composition, and in
general is grouped along with wood in National Statistics on transport. (Khan et al, 2007.) Data on
Bamboo imports is available from the INBAR Website, which uses COMTRADE Data. Data on the
Import of Bamboo as per this database is shown at right.

The Rapidly increasing level of Imports of Bamboo into India indicates a significant gap in Indias
harvesting and procurement capabilities, given that India possesses the Worlds largest area under
Bamboo plants. Although a quantitative analysis of the issue was not possible due to multiple
constraints, including the unhelpful attitude of the Directorate General for Commercial Information
and Statistics in gathering data, qualitative analysis through interviews with firms involved in Imported
Bamboo products revealed that this Bamboo was usually sourced from China.

Further, Bamboo was sourced via a chain of middlemen; contacting these middlemen for further
information was impossible due to unwillingness of respondents to reveal the identities of these
middlemen. However, it was concluded that Bamboo is obtained by industries dealing in imported
Bamboo at around Rs 75-80 a Kilogram, as opposed to Rs 50-56 for domestic Bamboo. This price
gradient was observed to exist due to differences in quality. The Manufacturers utilising imported
Bamboo received semi-processed Bamboo Sticks, allowing them to focus on their production rather
than on processing of the Bamboo Culm itself, whereas manufacturers utilising Domestic Bamboo
were forced to utilise unsorted Bamboo Poles featuring wastage rates as high as 50% due to poor
quality, and then perform processing, which adds around Rs 14-15 per kg. It may hence be concluded
that significant Value Chain hurdles contribute towards the rising popularity of utilising Bamboo
grown domestically; these challenges are now described.

Challenges in the value Chain

The Bamboo Value Chain in India suffers from challenges at all stages in the chain, starting at the
level of production. For presentation of these challenges, the Value Chain is understood in terms of
the Production to Consumption system framework developed in Belcher, 1995.

The Framework has three major components:

1. The Production System, which deals with Raw Material Sourcing. The Bamboo value Chain may
choose to locate its sourcing from any form of cultivation lying along the continuum of production
possibilities, depending upon convenience and the structure of the Production system itself in terms of
concentration of growers.

2. The Transformation System, which deals with the conversion of Bamboo from raw poles into value
added products. A downward shift in the value chain henceforth leads to a rise in the level of
mechanization and industrialization necessary for the operation of the same. This stage includes all the
preparatory and processing stages as well as manufacturing and finishing.

3. The Consumption System, which deals with the actual end user of the product. A downward
movement of this end of the value chain along the Production to Consumption System depicts a rise
in the price and in the quality of the final product produced.

Challenges in the Production System

Currently we observe that the majority of the Production of Bamboo in India occurs in the unorganised
sector; further, we observe that existing Bamboo plantations fail to achieve optimal yields in line with
what is achieved in China. The major challenges identified in the Production System are:
1. Inconsistencies in Legislation and Regulation: Bamboo is subject to bewildering variety of
legislative structures which create multiple regulatory regimes surrounding it; further, this regime
varies across states due to the inclusion of Forestry on the Concurrent List of the Indian Constitution.37
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 classifies Bamboo as a tree38; the rationale behind this being that the
classification tree was applied to all forest products which had a high potential of being stolen from
forests for illegal usage (S K Khanduri, personal Communication). Under the regime created by the
IFA, felling of Bamboo in forests is strictly a monopoly of the local Forest Department, whereas felling
and transportation of Bamboo grown on private land requires a Certificate of Origin and a transit pass,
which must be obtained for each individual shipment and obtaining which may take up to 6 months
(Khan et al, 2007). However, when recognised as an important facet of local livelihoods, the Scheduled
Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 defines
Bamboo as a Minor Forest Produce, over which STs have full rights of ownership and transportation
without a Transit Pass. However, resistance of Forest officials to modify existing regimes in States
implies that tribals still suffer from Transit pass requirements.39 The Planning Commissions 2011
report on NTFPs contains an annexure on the regulatory regime governing all aspects of production,
growing, harvesting, value addition etc. in the NTFP sector and provides a list of legislations in the
area.

2. Exploitation and Poor Regeneration in Bamboo forests: While Forest Rights are guaranteed to
Forest dwelling communities under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the process for the vesting of these community rights
involves significant procedural hurdles, including a 3-tier system of registration.41 For the majority of
villages which have yet to be vested with these rights, Bamboo is still considered a publicly owned
resource which is to be exploited at the risk of being caught and harassed by Forest Officials. As a
result, a tragedy of the commons scenario ensues whereby the Tribals have incentives to deplete the
resources within the limited windows when enforcement is weak; as a result, Bamboo clumps in the
vicinity of villages are depleted rapidly

The lack of awareness regarding rules for felling43 contributes further to this degradation.

3. Poor Yields: The Average yield for Bamboo grown in India is 2-3 MT44 per hectare (Khan et al,
2007). This low yield explains why India, despite having the largest absolute area under Bamboo, has
the second largest Bamboo resource. In China, well managed plantations can give up to 50 T/Ha. In
India, the maximal yields obtained from plantations are still in the range of approximately 10-15 T/Ha.
4. Lack of attention to Variety Management and Biodiversity Conservation: In situ and ex situ
conservation, identification of genotypes and gene bank, application of biotechnology and genetic
engineering of Bamboo are accorded minimal importance (Planning Commission, 2011).

5. Volatility in Market prices: It is observed in the NTFP sector in general that prices are highly
volatile, fluctuating quite frequently. These fluctuations contribute further to the lack of information
discussed below. Volatility in Market prices has discouraged Private Forestry in the sector (Planning
Commission, 2011), and contributed to the proliferation of middlemen contributing little value and
reducing the remuneration to the grower. Further, policies to correct this have included centralized
procurement, as seen in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, which leads to governments fixing prices
advantageous to the Forest Department and disadvantageous to growers, leading to the shortages
associated with price ceilings.

6. Low Interest in Commercial Forestry: Outmoded policy frameworks, Transit Pass Regimes, and
Price uncertainties and fluctuations have led to strong disincentives for private farming and cultivation
of Bamboo Homesteads on an industrial and commercial scale, although as previously noted, this
scenario is changing.

7. Lack of Market Information: Bamboo farmers are usually unaware of prevailing market prices
and rely upon the traders to determine their prices for them (Rao et al, 2009.) This is in contrast to
farmers for many other crops including rice and wheat, whose prices are available continuously and
are continually updated. Systems leveraged in many parts of India for information regarding crop
prices through SMS services are not available for the Bamboo sector. The government run portal
Agmarknet.nic.in, which updates prices of commodities daily across over 1000 markets, curiously fails
to analyse Bamboo prices over a wide range of days; data on Bamboo prices is sporadic at best, and
the dissemination is minimal. This is reflected even in the Tripura value Chain, where the tribal
harvester receives only 25% of the price of the Bamboo Pole in Agartala (Rao et al, 2009.)

8. Insufficient Baseline Data: The Planning Commission remarks that the lack of data regarding
resources and usage patterns for Bamboo is usually unavailable, and if available, outdated. This leads
to difficulties in adopting concrete plans for Management and Planning for Resource Allocation. In
particular, data for the usage pattern of Bamboo is deficient; this critical parameter being unstudied
has led to improper resource allocation practices
Challenges in the Transformation System

The Transformation System deals with the Processing Chain, which is largely confined to single Firms
in India. The Challenges faced by institutions in the Transformation System are now described.

1. Poor Quality of Bamboo Supplied: Bamboo reaches the Manufacturer through a system of
aggregator middlemen, who collect bamboo harvested by cultivators and sell them in bulk to the
Manufacturer. Tribals who harvest bamboos tend to do so from nearby forests,47 and are, in general,
not mindful of the quality and quantity of Bamboo they sell to the trader. Aggregator middlemen
perform a crucial function of grading and sorting Bamboo (A U Khan, personal communication);
however, their lack of education and expertise implies that manufacturers still receive unsorted
Bamboo poles of varying quality.

2. Low Volumes of Bamboo Supply: Bamboo is supplied through a value chain featuring an informal
harvester at the top of the Production System (i.e. The least intensive Bamboo production possibility).
Thus, Bamboo supply depends on the yield of the smallholding owned by the Tribal; on an average,
this yield is about 2-3 Tonnes per hectare. Another contributor to the low Bamboo supply is the
diversion of much of the Bamboo produced to low value adding sectors. It is estimated that 44% of
the Total Bamboo cultivated is utilised in the Paper and pulp industry48 and in scaffolding for
construction, wherein there is, at best, highly limited scope for value addition. The limited availability
of Bamboo, especially Bamboo of certain grade or species, is repeatedly cited by industry members as
the primary concern they face in the functioning of their industrial units

3. Lack of Availability of Trained Labour: Bamboo processing is a technical activity which requires
a certain degree of technical proficiency. Further, while Indian artisans are naturally trained at working
with Handicrafts, their skills are insufficient to allow them to cope up with the requirements of an
industrial process, including efficiency and speed.

4. Lack of access to Inputs in Production: Bamboo production processes are intensive consumers of
electricity and water, as well as several chemicals for primary and secondary processing of the Culm.
The majority of regions with otherwise tremendous potential for Bamboo industries, such as the NER,
lack access to such basic industrial inputs50.

5. Lack of Capital Intensity in Production: The Production processes adopted in Indian industrial
units lack the Capital Intensity necessary for large scale production at low costs. This is primarily due
to the high costs of machinery in the sector51, as a result of which starting a small-scale Bamboo
industry faces significant hurdles. The Bamboo value Chain thus remains at the higher end of the
Transformation System, featuring lower value addition.

6. Fragmentation of the Industry: Due to insufficient contact between manufacturers, the Bamboo
sector is dominated by small firms, most of which have annual turnovers of less than Rs20-30 million.
A large number of the more visible manufacturers work on a not-for-profit model basis, whereby their
aims are less of industrialization and more on the lines of increasing employment and livelihood
betterment.

7. Concentration of the Value Chain: Due to lack of Market linkages, Firms are required to handle
most aspects of the processing chain themselves. Manufacturers are required to perform primary and
secondary processing; an interview with Native KONBAC reveals that the cost of processing per
Bamboo pole is as high as Rs 10. In addition, the processing cycle takes around 48 hours per bamboo
pole (although certain processes may be carried out in bulk). This implies that Firms are unable to
specialise in handling any one aspect of the value Chain, i.e. There are few dedicated manufacturers
or dedicated processing industries in the Bamboo sector. Concentration of the value Chain and the
Processing Chains, and the consequent fall in specialisation, has reduced the efficiency of the Bamboo
industry. It is estimated that in Southern Asia, wastage rates for Bamboo products can be as high as
70% (Smith et al, 2006b).

8. Production delocalised from Markets: Transit Permit regimes surrounding the Bamboo sector
imply that there exists impetus to not utilise Bamboo sourced from far away; rather, production occurs
closer to the centre of Bamboo availability. This is visible in most industries which choose to set
themselves up near forested areas54. However, since these regions are usually remote from major
urban markets, the delocalisation of production from markets occurs, which implies that transportation
is now required for finished products, which is inconvenient and expensive. This situation is
particularly seen in the Furniture industry in the NER.

9. Low Levels of Quality Assessment and absence of Standardisation: The absence of Quality
Standardisation in Bamboo products, as well as for Bamboo poles has created a significant problem
for exports in India. The absence of dedicated certification for Bamboo products has led to variability
in quality norms for products.
Challenges in the Consumption System

The Bamboo value Chain in India ends somewhere towards the upper end of the Consumption System,
between consumption for personal and household utilisation and consumption by rural markets and
underdeveloped urban markets. The Issues faced in this end of the system are as follows.

1. Underdeveloped Markets: A Market in a product can exist only if there exists adequate Demand
for the Good being produced; however, in the Bamboo product sector, the demand for Bamboo
products is low. This minimal demand is due primarily to the problems mentioned below; however,
the delocalisation of production from consumption centres and the lack of targeted marketing are other
possible factors. Underdeveloped Markets and production remote from marketplaces imply that Firms
incur significant transportation costs (Sunil Joshi, personal communication) in moving their goods
from their production units to markets across India.

2. Poor Quality Perceptions and Lack of Awareness: Bamboo is correlated in Western Mindsets
with an occidental point of view (Van Der Lugt and Otten, 2006); even in India, upper middle classes
view Bamboo as an input in Tribal Handicraft industries alone. Indian consumers further possess
perceptions of low quality as a result of the low value and quality products produced by manufacturers
who fail to produce better quality products as a result of constraints faced as detailed above. This
perception makes consumers initially unaware of Bamboos properties reluctant to purchase Bamboo
products instead of traditional wood products.

3. Poor Involvement of Retail Chains in the Consumption System: Bamboo Products are usually
not stocked by premier retail chains; indeed, even state handicrafts emporiums fail to promote Bamboo
products at times. 57 Bamboo retail chains often make losses owing to deficient demand;58 as a result
of this, many Bamboo Manufacturers choose to advertise and find Buyers through online portals
including indiabambooallinall.org, indiamart.in.

The Combination of the above challenges implies that the Bamboo Value Chain in India still lies at
the upper end of the Production to Consumption System; the net result of this is a minimal level of
value addition, minimal levels of capital intensive production and a generally low level of quality. It
is imperative that the Value Chain be translated vertically downwards; such a movement would allow
for increased levels of production at a higher level of productive efficiency, enabling higher levels of
employment generation, sales and quality, allowing India to cater to a wider export audience.
The Bamboo Industry in China: An Instructive Study and Key Takeaways

The Chinese Bamboo industry is perhaps the only well studied Bamboo industry which has managed
to develop industrial capacities in producing value Added products to cater to a vast export market
(Khan et al, 2007). The sector provides employment to over 35 million people and generates annual
revenues of over US$ 10 billion59. While China faces significant comparative advantages in the
Bamboo sector- it leads the world in Bamboo biodiversity, with close to 500 species, many of which
are monopodial and consequently higher in yields- it is undeniable that government Policies promoting
the growth of the industry at the grassroots level have had an enormous role to play in the success
story.

The Chinese Government follows a collaborative policy for Bamboo cultivation and dissemination of
technical knowledge among its populace, where there is a joint effort by technical institutions,
governments and Communities in developing local capacities for value addition in the Bamboo sector.
The Chinese Government extends:
a. Technical assistance, in the form of Capital accumulation. The Present industrial structure in China
is said to be the result of almost 20 years of capital accumulation in the sector. At present, there are
nearly 3,000 Bamboo processing companies in China.
b. Education in the processing of Bamboo and training for farmers in collaboration with technical
institutions and local Bamboo promotion boards.
c. Financial Assistance, by facilitating credit availability. In the Fujian province, recent land reforms
include provision of no interest loans to farmers against the collateral of their forest tenure certificates.

Studies of Chinas Bamboo sector (Smith and Mestre, 2007) suggest the following as the primary
reasons behind the immense competitiveness of the Chinese Bamboo sector.

1. Strong Domestic and Export Demand for locally produced high value Bamboo products, as a
result of which small scale and micro industrial units were able to cater to markets which already
existed in Bamboo products. Further, the easy availability of credit and low individual capital
investment requirements allowed the growth of these small firms up to the point where they could
initiate production on an industrial scale.

2. Complexity of Supply Chains for Bamboo products allows firms to define vertical boundaries in
the value Chain more strictly in China. In China, individual producers supply Bamboo to intermediary
firms specialising in bamboo processing; as a result, Bamboo product
manufacturers can purchase processed bamboos and need not invest in primary processing
technologies. This specialisation allows industrial outlets to produce quality Products to cater to
domestic and export markets with acceptable rates of return on investment.

3. Development of Technical Capacities and Relentless improvement in levels of technology through

innovation in technologies and methods of production has led to the creation of low cost Capital
technologies which can be adopted by local firms in China.

4. Extreme levels of Productive Efficiency are achieved through the effective use of technology.
China has developed expertise in utilising nearly every portion of the Bamboo plant, to the extent
where raw material conversion rates are as high as 95% of the Bamboo plant. Individual industries are
able to purchase only the portions of the plant they require for the purposes of their own industrial
production, contributing to remarkably low marginal costs of production. Competition for raw material
forces industries to innovate and continuously optimise on their production processes.

5. The presence of Economies of Scope and Scale due to the above factors has lowered production
costs further, coupled with the availability of a large pool of semi-skilled low cost labour. A major
impact of these economies has been to decrease marginal costs of products to levels below those of
competing industries in Asian nations, despite the higher cost of Raw Materials; as a result, Chinese
Bamboo products have proven extremely difficult to compete against.

Proposals for Bamboo Sector

Proposing the following regime as a roadmap towards industrialization of the Bamboo sector, to apply
at the various stages in the value Chain for Bamboo product production. The roadmap indicates specific
action to be taken at the earliest to ensure the development of a competitive Bamboo industry in India,
which sets new standards for inclusion of locals, quality product development, innovative design and
efficient production. For India to achieve its goals, it will require a broad-based approach towards
targeting the following major areas:

1. Increasing the degree of commercializing Bamboo cultivation through large scale contract farming
and cooperative and commercial forestry

2. Establishing small enterprises for Processing of Bamboo and educating small enterprise owners and
workers on best practices for efficiency

3. Establishing linkages between these enterprises and Manufacturers

4. Incentivizing Manufacturers to add further value and incorporate the informal value chain within
them. Ensure adequate attention is provided to quality of goods.
References

Aggarwal, M. (2015), India pledges 33-35% cut in carbon emission intensity by 2030, Livemint.
Retrieved from website:
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/ZD2z2vwZktGNlzhrLujmyO/India-unveils-emission-targets-for-
2030-in-UN-climate-submis.html on 4th November 2016.

Austin et al. (2003). Social Entrepreneurship and Commercial Entrepreneurship: Same, Different, or
Both? Working Paper Series, No. 04-029, Harvard Business School.

Bal, L. M., Naik, S. N., and Satya, S. (2009). Scientic validation of indigenous knowledge system for
bamboo shoot processing and utilization. In: Abstract of the Proceedings of the National Seminar on
Bamboo Plantation, Management and its Utilization, pp. 70, March 1719, 2009. AFRI, Jodhpur,
India.

Banerjee, R. (1997), Reasserting Ecological Ethics: Bhils' Struggles in Alirajpur, Economic and
Political Weekly Vol.30 No.3.

Bhattacharjee, B. Tripura explores bamboo shoot business, indigenousherald.com. Retrieved from

website:
http://www.indigenousherald.com/index.php/business/466-tripura-explores-bamboo-shoot-business
on 4th November 2016.

Boschee, J. (1998). Merging mission and money: A board members guide to social entrepreneurship:
http://www.socialent.org/pdfs/MergingMission.pdf Accessed Oct. 30, 2004.

Centre for Science and Environment (2011), Drinking water for the last person: Training programme
for rural communities and panchayats, Madhya Pradesh.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2.cfm?abstract_id=2442953